Tuesday, May 19, 2009

3 out of 4 Arab children in Jerusalem live in poverty

A Civic rights group has concluded a new study that finds that 3 out of 4 Arab children that live in Jerusalem do so in poverty. The Association for Civil Rights in Israel blames the Israeli government for causing this. The ACRI says the governments policy of creating a Jewish majority in Jerusalem and forcing out Arabs is dropping the Arabs into poverty.

A total of 74 percent of Arab children in Jerusalem live below the poverty line, as compared with 47.7 percent of the Jewish children in the city, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) said.It said 66.8 percent of families in predominantly Arab east Jerusalem live in poverty as compared with 23.3 percent of the city's Jewish families, but that only 22 percent of the population receives social services.

In its "State of Human Rights in East Jerusalem" report, the group said residents of annexed east Jerusalem faced discrimination in planning and building, expropriation of lands, minimal investment in physical infrastructure, government and municipal services.

"These are concrete expressions of an Israeli policy designed to secure a Jewish majority in Jerusalem and push Palestinian residents outside the city's borders," it said.

"Life in Jerusalem can be described as a continuing cycle of neglect, discrimination, poverty and shortages.

"These, compounded by construction of the separation barrier cutting Jerusalem off from the West Bank, have led to the social and economic collapse of this part of the city.

"A large majority of east Jerusalem residents do not receive, and cannot afford to buy, the most basic services. The primary victims are the vulnerable populations, the aged, the disabled and children."...

The Israeli group also reported a shortage of 1,700 classrooms in east Jerusalem and a school dropout rate of about 50 percent.